Hispanics Surge Through Family
by Steve Watters on 05/01/2008 at 10:55 AM
Hispanics have surged to 15% of the United States population according to new Census Bureau reports. That growth is increasingly from births to Hispanics more than from new immigration. A Wall Street Journal article today explains this demographic trend:
Between 2006 and 2007, about 62% of the increase in Hispanics came from births.
"The Hispanic population has taken on a momentum of its own," said Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute. "If you close the borders tomorrow, there is still going to be a large Hispanic increase."
As America's leading financial newspaper, the Wall Street Journal is especially interested in the effect this trend has on America's economy:
As Americans age and the baby boom generation retires, Hispanics may help buttress the economy and the Social Security system. The average white woman in the U.S. has 1.8 children, which is under the replacement rate of 2.1 necessary to maintain a stable population. Hispanic women, meanwhile, give birth on average to 2.8 children.
According to the Pew Research Center, whites are projected to make up only 45% of the working-age population in 2050, down from 68% in 2005. The center projects that the share of Hispanics in the working-age population will rise to 31% from 14%. The ratio of senior citizens to working-age people age 25 to 64 will grow to 411 seniors per 1,000 working-age people in 2030 from 250 per 1,000 in 2010, according to Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California.
Demographics are destiny. Increasingly, the face of the United States over the next 50 years will have everything to do with the cumulative effect of millions of private decisions about getting married and having children. As it looks now, the distinct Hispanic embrace of marriage and family makes them the segment of the U.S. population with the fastest growing influence over the nation's future.
1. Jen said the following at 12:18 PM on May 1:
Is this supposed to be a bad thing? It seems that there's a slight undertone that Hispanics and Latinos having influence is a bad thing. I profoundly disagree. Of course, I could definitely be reading it wrong, in which case I apologize!
2. LL said the following at 12:27 PM on May 1:
That is great! Where I live, there are more and more caucasian women having more kids. Maybe there is a trend towards more kids and the 1.8 number is outdated? Just a thought.
3. Melissa* said the following at 1:25 PM on May 1:
Disregarding the partial panic of an overpopulated planet, seeing a trend toward more family life makes me smile. Indeed.
4. J. said the following at 1:55 PM on May 1:
Steve Watters wrote:
"As it looks now, the distinct Hispanic embrace of marriage and family makes them the segment of the U.S. population with the fastest growing influence over the nation's future."
The word "marriage" should probably be removed from the sentence above. The illegitimacy rate in this country amongst Hispanics is about 50%. And abortion is not as common in the Hispanic population, due in large part to their being predominantly Catholic as well as the strong emphasis they place on family.
5. Kellie said the following at 2:24 PM on May 1:
I don't see any problems with that. The latino culture is family oriented and often involved in church life, from what I've observed growing up in an area of the country that is heavily latino (and being married to a latino husband). Just the kind of people FOTF likes!
6. Alex B. said the following at 4:10 PM on May 1:
I second J.'s point in post 4 above; it's part of a pro-immigration myth that marriage is in much better shape among Hispanics. If and when it is, it's only really among the first-generation immigrants, while for their children, it falls apart into a situation comparable to that of urban blacks.
Some related reading with several links of its own can be found here.
7. Susan Drake said the following at 5:37 PM on May 1:
The influx of the Latino population into our schools definitely affected us. We went from a first world campus to a third world campus. Not being able to make comments about the problem for Caucasian students, we saw a lot of the local population leave. With a little more encouragement for Americans, the problems might get into balance and "whites" would be encouraged to stay. As a teacher, I am so sad to see a huge population of people who have broken the law and are not punished for it. Where is God in all of this?
8. Saxon said the following at 7:03 PM on May 1:
Well that depends on what you define as "embrace of marriage and family". At least half of these births are out of wedlock. Some family values. Many "hispanic" women do get married-to Uncle Sam that is, he provides better benefits (at the tax payers expense) than the average illegal aliens.
9. Sarah22 said the following at 7:35 PM on May 1:
Jen & Kellie: Your comments seem to imply that you think Steve is racist...I don't know if we read the same article but nowhere did I see him condemn Hispanics for building large families. I think you owe him an apology.
Also, I think the marriage statistics are true, but are they that much different than Caucasians? Divorce seems to be very much a problem with all cultures/ethnicities, I don't think it's fair to single out Hispanics.
10. Ivette said the following at 9:11 PM on May 1:
As a woman of Mexican descent, I am so proud of my heritage and our high regard for family over convenience or comfortable lifestyles. May the Lord preserve us from the ever present attack on family and the skewed view of responsible & lifestyles that has depleted Europe and has them at below replacement birth rates and is beginning to rear its ugly head in the U.S. And, may the Hispanic men of faith be annointed to lead their families with a fear of GOd, that our children can be a blessing to this beautiful nation.
11. DannieA said the following at 9:37 PM on May 1:
whatever your views are on Hispanics...the honest truth is, they value family way more than Caucasians do.
1. less abortion
2. close knit family and extended family
3. acceptance of what children are...even those with special needs.
12. Alex B. said the following at 9:54 PM on May 1:
Sarah22 (post 9), the reason the marriage statistics are being pointed out is because while whites may not have much different divorce rates (I haven't checked on that), whites do have a lot fewer kids out of wedlock. If the demographic group having the most kids has most of them out of wedlock, that's a very bad thing for society at large.
13. R.C Cola said the following at 11:10 PM on May 1:
I guess I wonder why this needed to be blog about at all. Not disrespect but it could offend people that there is a distinction made. It could alienate people and divide them. Again no offense why does this needed to be pointed out?
14. Leah said the following at 11:18 PM on May 1:
Sarah22- If Jen and Kellie feel Steve made racist comments, he can clarify that. If they are proven wrong, THEN they owe him an apology. But until then, they are free to have their opinions. I must admit that while I wouldn't call Steve racist, I did wonder what the point of the article was. Is it bad Hispanics are gaining ground in the US? Or is he saying caucasions should learn a lesson from them?
15. EJV said the following at 6:25 AM on May 2:
Susan Drake: What do you mean by "people who are breaking the law and are not being punished for it?" Are you saying that the influx of Hispanic children come from illegal alien parents? Just because this country has a problem with illegal aliens from Latin America, it doesn't mean that all of them came illegally.
I was born in Latin America and came to the US as a child, on a plane with a Visa. So has my entire family since we started migrating to the US since the 60s. No law breaking there.
FYI, if these children are US born, they have as much right to be in your school as Caucasian children do; the status of their parents shouldn't come into question. Those children are American. Even if some of them came illegally to the US, everyone should have the right to an education, and as a teacher you should agree. Those children had no say in the decision their parents made.
Please, don't blame the ethnicity of the children for the problems in your school. If your school is having issues it's because of the adults involved in making the decisions about how the school is run, including teachers like yourself.
16. Catherine said the following at 9:09 AM on May 2:
I want to give Steve the benefit of the doubt here and assume that he didn't post this because he wanted to point out the "dangers" of hispanic birth rates. I think he found it interesting because we (young adult christians) need to think more about prioritizing family and children. We need to be more intentional about planning our lives in a way that welcomes children.
I agree with the above poster that there is some age gap in attitudes. I notice with my christian friends who are in their 30s that they don't really want kids or not very many. I don't know why, but with most of my friends getting married now (25-30) they really value children and want a larger family. When I tell my parents (50s) that I plan on having four kids they think I'm insane! (they have three) I think its great that my generation (a least the very narrow slice I see of upper middle class professionals) is rethinking where children fit into our future plans.
17. Ted Slater said the following at 9:13 AM on May 2:
R.C. Cola -- I've learned that some people just *want* to be "offended" (whatever that means).
In some ways, Steve's post is another "Rorschach Post" -- the comments say more about the commenters than they say about the original post.
I find it interesting to see what our readers are thinking....
18. Ted Slater said the following at 9:20 AM on May 2:
EJV -- the fact is that millions of Hispanics are in the United States illegally. They broke our laws to get here. That's just the truth. Their illegality casts a shadow of suspicion on Hispanics who are here legally (I assume you are, and that your visa has either been renewed, or you've become a legal resident or citizen).
You do acknowledge that 10s of millions of Hispanics have broken the law to enter our country, right?
19. Katie B said the following at 10:04 AM on May 2:
Susan Drake: What laws have they broken? I assume you are talking about illegal immigrants, in which case, it is sad that the legal process is so difficult and often expensive that people have to find other ways to help themselves and their families, your right, I dont see God in that, I see selfserving government. And the White people are leaving because the integration is causing them problems? Wow, I thought that kind of thing was just rumor. Thats so sad. I hope these people arent christians, are they really turning away from an oppourtunity to serve God's children because their feeling of entitlement is inconvienienced by the mere presence of other people who are presumably using the same resources they are, but might have greater need? If thats whats happening, that is terrible!
Or maybe there are other dynamics going on in your community?
I just dont understand the animosity toward illegal immigrants, they have greater needs and fewer options, instead of penalizing people, why do we not help them. If we do that I dont think we would have to ask where God is.
20. Kellie said the following at 10:11 AM on May 2:
sarah22: I wasn't accusing him of making a racist post, but I'm kind of confused as to the purpose of the post. Is it a just a general comment about our American culture?
21. Kellie said the following at 11:18 AM on May 2:
Why does a post about hispanics automatically turn to illegal immigration? Interestingly enough, my husband and I both have great, great grandparents who entered the country illegally. His from Mexico, mine from England.
22. EJV said the following at 11:58 AM on May 2:
Ted - I am not denying the fact that there are Hispanic illegal immigrants in this country. In fact I acknowledged that in my post. However, the fact that Susan Drake made a statement implying that all the Hispanic children in her school are illegal immigrants really rubbed me the wrong way.
As I said, if those kids were born in the US (and chances are that a vast majority were based on this article), they have every right to partake in public education. They are US Citizens! A good educator and a Christian wouldn't blame the problems in his/her school on the children enrolled in it.
23. R.C Cola said the following at 12:21 PM on May 2:
Ted Slater,
What I was trying to point out is that this blog could serve to alienate people. It creates an us versus them mentality.If we know others may get easily offended means that we try to speak about things in different ways. Ask questions. Here their story.
24. k. said the following at 12:53 PM on May 2:
Demographics are always interesting. I'm a little disappointed to see so many stereotypes (on both sides) being bandied around, though.
25. M said the following at 1:12 PM on May 2:
Kaite B - Well said!!
26. DannieA said the following at 4:46 PM on May 2:
stereotypes, stereotypes.
I'm "hispanic" but most people don't think so because my skin is white.
What irks my blood is that when people think hispanic, they automatically assume south of the border (mexico) and don't realize that there are many countries and cultures in the hispanic world.
27. Jassy said the following at 5:15 PM on May 2:
I'm Hispanic and a believer and these sort of discussions always, nearly always, leave a bad taste in my mouth. It's actually painful to think that all people can see is race, or poverty, rather than people (whom God created) who are in need as a result of the inequities of the world.
It's like people lose all sense of mercy that ought to temper justice. If God brought his law down on us for everything we've done wrong how many of us would still be around? As sad as it can get, is it's good to have these discussions so people can see what's in their hearts. Xenophobia should have no place among God's people. Clearly however, it does.
28. BDB said the following at 6:22 PM on May 2:
I need to say a few things.
I have an entire Hispanic wing to my family - it's huge and they are wonderful! I love visiting with them.
Interestingly, they are against illegal immigration. As they point out, their family has been in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area for 400 years - the boundary moved about 170 years ago.
As for those of European descent complaining about how immigrants are taking their jobs...I know a number of Native Americans who agree with you.
29. penguin said the following at 12:09 AM on May 3:
BDB,
No one can take a job away from anyone. They may take the opportunity but ultimately it is up to the companies to choose their employees. If someone got job would it be fair for those who were not chosen to be upset at the person hired? No they were not chosen and therefore the reason has little to do with the the hired person. Even if that person is willing to debase them self by accepting below minimum wage, horrible conditions, abuse or whatever in order to work, they should get compassion. Life must be pretty bad if they are willing to put up with those conditions.
30. Marcel said the following at 7:09 AM on May 3:
Actually those stats are wrong.
In 2050 - Whites will be a minority
Just like native Americans.
Ironic ?
Stop being worshipers of first-world status.
Stop being worshipers of the white race race.
Be worshipers of God...
Stop aborting...
Stop preaching and pushing Evolution while aborting yourselves to non existence.
31. Jen said the following at 9:10 AM on May 3:
Sarah22: First of all, in my post I was in no way trying to point a finger at Steve. I was just a little confused as to what his point was-similar to what Kellie said. I don't know enough about Hispanic and Latino culture to use specific evidence for my point. Frankly, in every culture and ethnic group, because we are fallen, there is the presence of unwed mothers, abortion, etc. The fact that Latinos are embracing marriage is a great thing-and if they are believers, we should be rejoicing! What influence they could have! =)
If, on the other hand, the point was made in order to suggest that Latinos embracing marriage and culture is a negative thing, and that whites need to catch up and pass them, so to speak-I'm sorry, but I think that is disgusting. Whites have been in power since the beginning of America, and to think that whites represent America, and that other groups are just "immigrants"-I don't see how a professing Christian could think those things.
And Susan Drake (#7), to blame the influx of another ethnic group for making, as you called it, your campus turn from a first-world country to a third-world one...I don't know. I'm kind of in shock that you said that, actually. I'm not saying that entire group is innocent; that would be silly, but to blame them as a whole for making whites leave? No. It's just like white flight. Whites left for fear of blacks that they didn't even know, not because blacks moved in. The result was a lower housing market and redliing among black neighborhoods.
By placing such an emphasis on whiteness meaning American, we lose the opportunity of authentically sharing the Gospel with those who Jesus also came to save. He didn't come to save just whites. I'm sorry if I was a little harsh, but this kind of attitude infuriates me and I don't think is useful in advancing the Kingdom.
For the record, I am white.
32. Matthew said the following at 12:00 PM on May 3:
Just to bring in yet another perspective about illegal immigration (yes, I know that that's not what the original post was about but that's where we've gone), here are John Piper's thoughts on the subject:
"I would like to see us as a country find a way to provide for illegal immigrants to stay but still have them pay a reasonable penalty.
Such a solution would give honor to the law and show mercy to the immigrants, whose situations are so varied and so many. It's not an easy, black-and-white, "they disobeyed, so get 'em out of here" issue. There's a lot of exploitation. We've benefited a lot from these people, etc.
As I've looked at both sides it seems that we could probably come up with a way to acknowledge that it is against the law (and we're not going to say that breaking the law doesn't matter), and yet we're not going to say that it's a simple and easy solution to try and ship 20 million of them back to Mexico. It's not going to work that way.
Just like illegal parking is against the law and we are charged a reasonable fee when we're caught, so too we should charge a reasonable penalty for illegal immigrants but one that doesn't require them to return to their home country.
I don't know if that will work, but that is the direction my heart leans toward."
33. BDB said the following at 12:48 PM on May 3:
penguin (#29) wrote:
>>Even if that person is willing to debase them self by accepting below minimum wage, horrible conditions, abuse or whatever in order to work, they should get compassion.<<
That's just it - there are many immigrants who are not needed to "debase" themselves - they can find regular-paying work simply because they work harder than Americans.
I saw this in the berry fields where I grew up. They let me pick because I was a neighborhood kid. But they made it absolutely clear that I was expected to pick 50 pounds/day, just like the various migrant workers. I was treated the same as them, except I understood English.
Later on the explained that the American kids tended to "pick cleaner," only getting the ripe fruit, no leaves, etc. But in total weight, the Vietnamese refugees and others would pick more.
And eventually I did find I could do more than 50 pounds/day. I had to stop goofing off and talking to people, and instead learn to work efficiently.
34. Andrew said the following at 1:30 PM on May 3:
For crying out loud, people! Steve just gave a few statistics and made a few predictions. There is nothing racist about it. Please untwist the knot in your panties and relax.
35. Mike Theemling said the following at 6:35 PM on May 3:
To me this is indeed a Rorschach post with no opinion attached. It just stated a few facts namely: A) That Hispanics currently make up 15% of the country demographics and B) They have the fastest growth rate of any ethnicity (with a speculation that it is because of their values on marriage and family).
Neither the word "legal" or "illegal" were in the postings just "immigrations" (not specifying the type).
People's first posting does indicate something about the poster.
And for those who feel that the posting was either "unnecessary" or "divisive", The Line is meant to provide "extreme conversation starters for 20somethings". This would certainly qualify as such.
36. Martha said the following at 11:34 PM on May 3:
Im a Latino, and it's sad for me to say but from what I've seen in the latino community, the majority of Hispanics do not embrace marriage. Young people live together and have many children but never get married. Many of the Latinos coming to the U.S. come to make a better life but they do not care for God.
37. Allan said the following at 10:50 AM on May 5:
21 "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt. Exodus 22:21
9 "Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt. Exodus 23:9
34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. Levitcus 19:34
" 'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants." Levitcus 25:23
These are only a few of many scriptures I found concerning the alien or immigrant. The thing is God doesn't see the fact that they are living in Israel without being Israelites (which techinically made them illegal being that the land was exclusively for Israel only) yet God was more concern with their treatment instead of status. God under specific instructions allowed them to stay but made sure they too weren't opressed. The truth is God sees past the lines we have drawn and sees the heart of each one of us. Check your heart any hint of racism or bitterness could lead to something worse and Jesus himself said, If anyone is to be angered towards his neighbor that person shall come down on the same judgement as he who commited murder. Check your hearts!
Oh and one more thing as christians we are ALL immigrants and most of our brothers and sisters around the world are considered illegal too in their countries for their beliefs in the greatest of all immigrants...you guessed it!...Jesus Christ.
"Heaven is where Home is and safe to say that God's people are homeless"
-Da Truth, "Christian Rapper"
I wonder how many of us would actually deport Jesus?
38. Leah said the following at 9:39 AM on May 6:
Ted, I think what you said in comment 18 was unnecessarily inflammatory. EJV was completely fine in what he/she said. Susan Drake seemed to be making a blanket statement about Hispanics, and EJV was only pointing out that there are many legitimately-US-residing Hispanics who should not be placed under that blanket.
Allan- there's a difference between illegal immigrants and immigrants.
39. Steve Watters said the following at 2:55 PM on May 6:
It's amazing what you can miss in the comments when you have a few busy days. Thanks to everyone who gave me the benefit of the doubt on not being a racist--that's always good.
I wanted primarily to hold up this news article to point out that even though it seems elementary, the American population will be a reflection of the rates of reproduction in our present day. I'm still amazed that when pundits speculate in various ways about the future, they often overlook the solid predictions demographers can make simply based on birth rates.
To those who raised the issue of unmarried childbearing, I agree that's a valuable point. Here's what the CDC had to say on that topic last December ( http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_06.pdf ):
Birth rates for unmarried women vary widely by race and ethnicity. In 2005, the nonmarital rate for Hispanic women was highest, at 100.3 per 1,000, followed by black women,67.8, non-Hispanic white women, 30.1,and API women, 24.9.
In light of this stat, I would clarify my original comment to say, "As it looks now, the distinct Hispanic embrace of childbirth makes them the segment of the U.S. population with the fastest growing influence over the nation's future, but the segment that specifically embraces marriage before childbirth is statistically in the best position to make that influence the most enriching to the nation as a whole."
40. Kellie said the following at 4:22 PM on May 6:
You know, according to the U.S. Census (http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hispanic/files/Internet_Hispanic_in_US_2006.pdf) 60% of the Hispanic population in the United States are native U.S. citizens.
41. Louise said the following at 5:49 PM on May 6:
I agree with comment 38 about the inappropriate content of comment 18.
I am of recent German ancestry, and I certainly hope that this fact does not cast a "shadow of suspicion" on me that I harbor any prejudiced feelings against Jewish people!
And BTW, I do not think that Mr. Watters' original post was in any way racist or offensive.
42. Chantell said the following at 1:53 PM on May 7:
Cultural theorist Raymond Williams wrote, “[t]here are in fact no masses; there are only ways of seeing people as masses.” I'd like to use his theory to re-define the groups identified in the original post. The relevant issues aren't race, ethnicity or citizenship status; but rather propensities to get married, to become pregnant (or to impregnate) and to keep a pregnancy. Focusing this way, we can identify opportunities to help people instead of offending them with off-topic observations that serve only to reveal hidden bigotries.
43. Jacqueline said the following at 5:24 PM on May 8:
Background info: I'm married to a first generation Hispanic American man and we have worked on and off in Spanish speaking churches for 6 or 7 years. I'm sad to agree with another commenter on the degradation of the moral compass even among Hispanics. When we speak Spanish, we have to use the word "partner" all the time because most couples and families we work with have never married. It is also very common for both men and women to have separate families on both sides of the border. (Ie. one 'wife" here, one "wife" there) What can be said though, is that at least Hispanics don't kill their preborn babies like other segments of our population. Please pray for those of us trying to reach this population with the Gospel...there is a lot of potential for Kingdom fruit-bearing in and through the Hispanic community.